Canada Day Kickoff Concert
Canadian country music stars, Emerson Drive, will launch the Fraser Valley’s Canada Day festivities. With country local country stars Aaron Pritchett, King & Cash and Beamer Wigley. • Abbotsford Centre, 33800 King Rd. • …

Lilly Singh
Flying in direct from the Land of Unicorn Island, join YouTube’s superwoman for a night filled with laughter, music and dance and get the inside scoop on how to find happiness and beauty in the world around you and within yourself. • Vogue Theatre, 918 Granville St. • July 18, 8 p.m. • $29.50, ticketfly,com, livenation.com

America
Iconic folk rockers are known for chart-topping hits like A Horse With No Name and Ventura Highway. • River Rock Show Theatre, 8811 River Rd. • July 30, 8 p.m. • $49.50/$39.50, ticketmaster.ca, riverrock.com

Florence + the Machine
English indie rock band, on tour in support of their new release, How Big How Blue How Beautiful. • Rogers Arena, 800 Griffiths Way • Oct. 25, 8 p.m. • $36-$70.50, ticketmaster.ca, livenation.com

]]>http://blogs.theprovince.com/2015/06/10/show-announcements-florence-the-machine-america-kevin-hart-steve-earl-the-dukes-cirque-du-soleil-kooza/feed/0GettyImages-475792988juliapiperScene & Heard: DJ O Show (a.k.a. Orene Askew)http://blogs.theprovince.com/2015/06/02/scene-heard-dj-o-show-a-k-a-orene-askew/
http://blogs.theprovince.com/2015/06/02/scene-heard-dj-o-show-a-k-a-orene-askew/#commentsTue, 02 Jun 2015 07:01:25 +0000http://blogs.theprovince.com/?p=190756Scene & Heard with Stuart Derdeyn talks to Orene Askew, a.k.a. DJ O Show (http://www.djoshow.com/) a member of the Squamish Nation (http://www.squamish.net) who has been building her “weddings, parties, anything” mobile soundsystem business since the mid-2000s. …]]>

Spinning the funky hip hop sounds

Scene & Heard with Stuart Derdeyn talks to Orene Askew, a.k.a. DJ O Show (http://www.djoshow.com/) a member of the Squamish Nation (http://www.squamish.net) who has been building her “weddings, parties, anything” mobile soundsystem business since the mid-2000s. An instructor at Vancouver’s School of Remix (www.schoolofremix.com), she has mixed everywhere from local and Washington State radio stations to DJ’ing the red carpet for the WE Day at Rogers Arena for the past two years.
DJ O SHow was kind enough to provide Scene & Heard with her latest free-flowing mix as well. Enjoy.

]]>http://blogs.theprovince.com/2015/06/02/scene-heard-dj-o-show-a-k-a-orene-askew/feed/0Scene and Heard printsderdeynSpinning the funky hip hop soundsCanucks to hold training camp in Prince Georgehttp://blogs.theprovince.com/2015/05/20/canucks-to-hold-training-camp-in-prince-george/
http://blogs.theprovince.com/2015/05/20/canucks-to-hold-training-camp-in-prince-george/#commentsWed, 20 May 2015 20:28:11 +0000http://blogs.theprovince.com/?p=189740As first reported yesterday, the Canucks will hold their 2015 training camp in Prince George. The team finally made it official on Wednesday.

The camp, for veterans and prospects who have been invited, will go from Sept. 17 to 20. …

]]>As first reported yesterday, the Canucks will hold their 2015 training camp in Prince George. The team finally made it official on Wednesday.

The camp, for veterans and prospects who have been invited, will go from Sept. 17 to 20. Players will report to Rogers Arena on Sept. 17 for medicals and testing before travelling to Prince George.

“This is the first time the Vancouver Canucks will host Training Camp in Northern British Columbia and the great city of Prince George,” said President, Hockey Operations Trevor Linden in a release. “We are fortunate to have the passionate support of fans around the province and are committed to holding future Training Camps in communities throughout B.C. This is a perfect opportunity to connect and express our gratitude for the support of the Prince George community. It will be a special visit for the players and team.”

All training camp on-ice sessions will take place at the CN Centre and be open to the public. The Canucks haven’t yet released details of the camp schedule.

25th Annual Harmony Arts Festival
A diverse and innovative festival full of renowned artists, performers and programs. Highlights include 450 visual artists showcased at various exhibits, 70 free concerts on two waterfront stages, vendor and artisan tents, outdoor movies at Cinema in the Park and the Best of the West food and wine pairing event • West Van waterfront • July 31-Aug. 9 • harmonyarts.ca

John Nolan
American musician from Long Island, New York, is the guitarist and co-lead vocalist of Taking Back Sunday. • Media Club, 695 Cambie St. • Sept. 3, 9 p.m. • $15, ticketmaster.ca, livenation.com

Another Eason’s Life: Eason Chan
Prominent male singer in Hong Kong’s music industry has been praised by Time magazine as a front runner in the next generation of Cantopop. • Rogers Arena, 800 Griffiths Way • Dec. 13 • $88-$388, ticketmaster.ca, anothereasonslifeincanada.com

]]>http://blogs.theprovince.com/2015/05/12/concert-announcements-east-van-summer-jam-milk-carton-kids-high-on-fire-mythbusters-jamie-adam-unleashed/feed/0Life Is Beautiful Festival - Day 3juliapiperProvince Sports Radio’s Casual Tuesdays with Steve: Talkin’ Canucks polls, prospects and World Champshttp://blogs.theprovince.com/2015/05/05/province-sports-radios-casual-tuesdays-with-steve-talkin-canucks-polls-prospects-and-world-champs/
http://blogs.theprovince.com/2015/05/05/province-sports-radios-casual-tuesdays-with-steve-talkin-canucks-polls-prospects-and-world-champs/#commentsTue, 05 May 2015 23:40:01 +0000http://blogs.theprovince.com/?p=188482]]>Last week we ran a poll at ProvinceSports.com about your feelings on the Canucks; 3,000 of you responded.

This week on Casual Tuesdays, Patrick Johnston and Steve “Casual” Ewen break down the poll and ponder Jake Virtanen and Jared McCann joining the second-round-bound Comets.

Plus, which player off the World Championship team, Sidney Crosby aside, would you like to add to your playoff team?

To subscribe to Province Sports Radio with iTunes or another podcast player, click here.

]]>http://blogs.theprovince.com/2015/05/05/province-sports-radios-casual-tuesdays-with-steve-talkin-canucks-polls-prospects-and-world-champs/feed/0virtmccannpericosFive Canuck forwards get Friday off from practice before flying to Calgary top prep for Game 6http://blogs.theprovince.com/2015/04/24/five-canuck-forwards-get-day-off-from-practice-before-flying-to-calgary-top-prep-for-game-6/
http://blogs.theprovince.com/2015/04/24/five-canuck-forwards-get-day-off-from-practice-before-flying-to-calgary-top-prep-for-game-6/#commentsFri, 24 Apr 2015 21:17:12 +0000http://blogs.theprovince.com/?p=187597Here are some random thoughts from the Vancouver Canucks’ practice on Friday morning at Rogers Arena. The team flew to Calgary Friday afternoon, and they’ll play the Flames in Game 6 there on Saturday.

*Forwards Nick Bonino, Ronalds Kenins, Jannick …

]]>Here are some random thoughts from the Vancouver Canucks’ practice on Friday morning at Rogers Arena. The team flew to Calgary Friday afternoon, and they’ll play the Flames in Game 6 there on Saturday.

*Forwards Nick Bonino, Ronalds Kenins, Jannick Hansen, Chris Higgins and Brad Richardson all skipped practice.
“We’ve had guys off before. We just vary how we practice. It’s nothing that’s unusual. They should be ready to go, I think,” coach Willie Desjardins said.
Desjardins did say earlier in the media session that he thought Richardson, who missed Game 4 with an undisclosed injury but played 11:44 on Thursday, would be a game-time decision on Saturday.
“I think last night was a good night for him,” said Desjardins. “Having him back in the line-up helps us.”
Richardson missed 37 regular season games with a micro-fracture of his ankle.
He is one of Vancouver’s top penalty killers and Calgary managed one measly shot with the man advantage on Thursday despite having six minutes of man-advantage time.
“He’s good, but there are a lot of others guys on the kill, too. He does help us in that area. I think he’s a real good playoff performer,” said Desjardins.
*Desjardins on the mood in his team’s dressing room: “I think it’s better, but, really, we’re in the same position. We have to win a game and then we have to win the next game. Our position hasn’t changed at all.”
*Desjardins was asked if he thought Calgary was tiring out. He, of course, didn’t bite on that.
“I can’t speak for Calgary. We’re excited about still playing. It could have been a really bad day today. We knew that and we responded the right way. We have to go in and get the next one. The pressure is on us. It’s not on Calgary. We have to do it,” Desjardins explained.
*Henrik Sedin on the Calgary crowd: “It’s a loud crowd. You can barely talk to your teammates during games.”
Bonino: “We have let in some early goals against them all series and it’s tough playing from behind, especially in Calgary, where their fans are loud. They get all that energy from them.”

Five things we learned heading into Game 5, as the Canucks try to avoid elimination from their playoff series with the Flames on Thursday:

1. Ryan Miller, as expected, will start Game 5 for the Canucks. Though he said on Wednesday following practice that he’s still not 100 per cent and has played just five periods of hockey since tearing a knee ligament on Feb. 22, Canucks coach Willie Desjardins confirmed he’ll be in goal.

“He’s been in big games before, but the main thing is how he played in Calgary (relieving Eddie Lack after the first period of Game 4),” said Desjardins. “I thought he looked really sharp.”

Miller stopped all 15 shots in his two periods of work in a 3-1 Game 4. Lack has a goals against average of 3.03 and a save percentage of .886 in the three-plus games.

Miller doesn’t talk to the media on game days.

2. The Flames know they will have replicate the two games they won in Calgary in Games 3 and 4 to have a chance to win on Thursday in a hostile building.

“We’ve just got to stick with our systems and play our game,” said Flames defenceman Kris Russell, who leads Calgary in scoring, with 2-2-4. “Make sure we’re smart with the puck, get it deep and limit turnovers. We’ve got to get our forecheck going early. We know they’re going to come out with their best effort of the series, so we’ve got to be prepared for that and have a good start.”

3. Sven Baertschi gets his first playoff game, against the team that traded him to the Canucks in early March. Baertschi, 22, a first-round pick of the Flames in 2011 (13th overall), gets his first chance to play against his former team. The winger will play on the second line with centre Nick Bonino and Radim Vrbata – the same duo he scored two goals with in the Canucks’ final game of the regular season. It was a sloppy, 6-5 overtime win in a mean-nothing game, but the Canucks are desperate to find some offence in a series where they’ve scored just eight goals in four games, one of those an empty-netter.

“It was such a short time that we played together, but I enjoyed every minute of it,” said Baertschi. “They’re both reliable on both ends of the ice and they’ve got a great scoring touch and good playmaking abilities so it makes it easier to get open and let them do their thing. The puck’s going to end up around those two.”

4. The Canucks could be without two of their top penalty killers again, after both missed Game 4. Alex Burrows (reported broken rib) is still in Calgary after having been stretchered to the hospital the morning before Game 4 and is done for the series. Centre Brad Richardson (ankle) participated in the optional morning skate, but Desjardins said he would be a game-time decision. Richardson, who’s missed most of the games since mid-January with the nagging injury, is also one of the Canucks’ more dependable faceoff guys.

“We’ll see at game-time,” said Richardson. “I’m not really sure this morning but we’ll figure it out tonight. Definitely, at this time of the year you want to be playing, so I’m hoping I can play.”

If Richardson is able to play, he would likely bump winger Brandon McMillan off the fourth line and then would move Shawn Matthias from centre back to the wing on that unit with Chris Higgins.

Regarding Burrows’ situation: Desjardins declined to offer details of why he’s still in Calgary, though he did say Wednesday the injury would keep Burrows out for the rest of the current series. There was a report from Montreal-based hockey reporter Renaud Lavoie saying Burrows has a broken rib. If this is the case, why doesn’t the team just say so, as there seems little strategic value in keeping it a secret.

]]>http://blogs.theprovince.com/2015/04/23/canucks-game-day-miller-starts-baertschi-gets-playoff-debut-burrows-still-in-calgary/feed/0Vancouver Canucks v Calgary Flames - Game FourjimjamiesonCanucks practice (V&P)Vancouver Canucks v Calgary Flames - Game FourCanucks practice (V&P)Flames rookie center Sam Bennett did more than hold his own against Brad Richardson and the Canucks in his first NHL playoff experience. (Jonathan Hayward, CP)Linden Vey is running out of opportunities to play a consistent game for the Canucks. After being scratched Thursday, he's back in the middle tonight against the Sharks in San Jose. (Getty Images via National Hockey League).Canucks Game Day: Fight Night aftershocks, Battling Bob fined again, Engelland’s Great Escape, a PP2 sightinghttp://blogs.theprovince.com/2015/04/19/canucks-game-day-fight-night-aftershocks-battling-bob-fined-again-engellands-great-escape-a-pp2-sighting/
http://blogs.theprovince.com/2015/04/19/canucks-game-day-fight-night-aftershocks-battling-bob-fined-again-engellands-great-escape-a-pp2-sighting/#commentsSun, 19 Apr 2015 20:11:13 +0000http://blogs.theprovince.com/?p=186747CALGARY —Points to ponder as the Canucks and Flames prepare for Game 3 of the Western Conference quarterfinal series tonight amid the aftershocks of Fight Night Friday, another fine for Battling Bob, the Engelland Great Escape and a PP2 …]]>CALGARY —Points to ponder as the Canucks and Flames prepare for Game 3 of the Western Conference quarterfinal series tonight amid the aftershocks of Fight Night Friday, another fine for Battling Bob, the Engelland Great Escape and a PP2 sighting:

Ben Nelms/Getty Images

1. ALL QUIET ON WESTERN FRONT?: We’ve seen this before. Wild fight night. Threat of suspensions. A fine imposed and everybody bracing for what may occur the next meeting. Usually, it’s nothing. A team trying to plant some sort of a seed in the dying minutes of a playoff loss is nothing new and the Flames did just that in Game 2 on Friday. With the best-of-seven series at 1-1, you expect the scoreboard to be more of the focus than the penalty box. After all, fighting in the playoffs is rare because if you’re the instigator and the opposition scores on the ensuing power play, it’s a momentum killer and possible season-ender. More happens. More is let go.

“It’s playoff hockey and it’s going to be intense,” said Dorsett. “Things are going to boil over. They fine their coach and it doesn’t really matter. Nobody should be suspended from it. It was at the end of the game and emotions were high and the intensity was high. There’s a big rivalry between these teams and when scores get out of control, things happen. I think we handled it OK.

Gerry Kahrmann/PNG

On Friday, Dorsett was on the wrong end of too many punches from Deryk Engelland. While Brad Richardson and Matt Stajan were involved in one bout, what started with Engelland and Dorsett going at it, became Dorsett on his back and Engelland continuing to punch, Dan Hamhuis coming in as the third man in defence of his teammate and things then heated up again between Engelland and Dorsett. Engelland received a triple game misconduct and escaped a suspension. If you need a refresher, here was Dorsett’s latest take Sunday because he believes something was lost in translation:

“I was on the bottom of the pile when Hammer came in and Engelland was over top of me and he wouldn’t quit and I was already out of it. I was trying to grab Engelland and the ref just said tie him up. If he’s getting the aggressor, he wouldn’t stop and they kept yelling at him to stop and he wouldn’t. He said just tie him up boys because he’s getting the aggressor (penalty) and that’s all that happened. He didn’t say go in and tie him up. It was already happening. We tied him up like they told us to and that was it.”

Getty Images

2. HARTLEY OPENS WALLET, AGAIN: From a distance, it’s intriguing to watch this version of Battling Bob Hartley. His media addresses are often appointment viewing because the Flames coach has a sense of humour and will usually attempt to take the high road, even if his team is in the ditch. It’s a product of a franchise in transition and getting the kids to drink the coaching Kool-Aid and making sure someone within the veteran core — in this case the injured Mark Giordano — helps with the crucial buy-in. It’s nothing new. Most coaches approach their jobs in this manner.

However, most of them don’t get dinged twice within 15 months to the tune of $75,000. Or three times in a career.

Hartley was fined $50,000 for his part in who was on the ice Friday when 132 penalty minutes were issued among nine players in a melee with 1:17 remaining in regulation time. In a statement, the league cited by-law 17.3 (a) “for conduct prejudicial to or against the welfare of the league.” In other words, what were you thinking, Bob?

Last season, Hartley was slapped with a $25,000 fine for his part in the infamous Torts Tunnel Tirade on Jan. 19, 2014 at Rogers Arena. Former Canucks coach John Tortorella was so incensed that Hartley started Brian McGrattan, Kevin Westgarth and Blair Jones for the opening faceoff — it sparked a 5-on-5 line brawl within two seconds — that he tried to get to Hartley in the tunnel leading to the Flames lockerroom during the first intermission.

In November, 2006, Hartley was fined $10,000 for his actions as Atlanta’s coach in a brawl with Washington.

Of course, all this can work one of two ways. Players either rally around their coach or think he’s got a screw loose. For his part, Hartley would only talk about tonight and not the fine, but the comedian in him came out when asked about the Edmonton Oilers winning the draft lottery Saturday.

“Good for them,” he said. “I buy lottery tickets all the time. I hope I win. I need it.”

Flames general manager Brad Treliving not only backed his coach, he took a bit of the poke at how everything went down.

“We fully respect the decision of the league but having said that, we support 100 per cent the actions of our coach and our players,” said Treliving. “I am somewhat confused as to why our coach was fined based upon the events. In our view, the most dangerous incident was when two players (Dorsett, Hamhuis) were engaged with one of ours (Engelland) and thankfully there was no injury.

Gerry Kahrmann/PNG

3. ENGELLAND’S GREAT ESCAPE: Deryk Engelland had his instigator minor Friday night rescinded and it kept the Flames defenceman from being suspended. An instigator in the final five minutes of regulation time warrants supplemental discipline. He had three game misconducts in different categories and two in any one would have resulted in a suspension.

“I didn’t even know I had three game misconducts until after the game and you usually don’t see two fighting majors in the same stoppage,” said Engelland. “For them to take the instigator off, it’s huge for me to be able to play tonight. I expected them to come out flying and match their start from last game and we hope to use our crowd. And what if push comes to shove again like Friday?

“We weren’t going to roll over and just give it to them,” said Engelland. “It’s not a planned thing, it happens. You have to try and create momentum and it’s going to be a long series. We’ve got to set the tone and build off it.”

Darryl Dyck/Canadian Press

4. SOME POTENTIAL POWER IN PP2?: That delayed power-play goal celebration by Chris Higgins on Friday was fitting. It wasn’t just that the Canucks winger had snapped a rebound in tight past Jonas Hiller, off the goal camera and back into play so quickly that there was a slight hesitation in the goal ruling and elation, it’s that the much-maligned second power-play unit couldn’t have picked a better time to come alive.

“I thought it went in and I kept playing for a second,” recalled Higgins. “I don’t have to pay for the camera, so that’s nice, too. They’re not always going to be the prettiest goals but those around the net are going to be the ones that put you over the top. You have to battle guys and get a whack and we got one last game.

“Our unit is obviously different and you can’t replicate what the Sedins do. Even as a penalty killer, I knew when teams keep putting the puck at your net, it seems like you’re not doing you job and running around a bit.”

Darryl Dyck/Canadian Press

5. SEDINS, SEDINS, ALWAYS THE SEDINS: Teams try to play aggressively against Henrik and Daniel Sedin, some back off and some aren’t quite sure what to do. The Flames have taken a casual approach to tying up the twins and have already looked at enough video for a film festival. How do you stop them?

“That’s the question people have been asking for the past decade,” said Flames centre Joe Colborne. “A lot of our pre-game meetings are about how you approach those two. It’s finding a balance. You have to read if they’re bobbling the puck because if they have control, they’re so good. And you can’t be overly aggressive because they’ll spin off and make two quick passes and it’s in the net. But at the same time, you can’t give them time and space because they’ll find the trailer.”

OF NOTE — Kevin Bieksa and Alex Edler didn’t take the morning skate and Willie Desjardins called them game-time decisions.

1. There are two intriguing stats at play. Vancouver is looking tonight to avoid becoming the first team in NHL history to lose eight straight home playoff games. They haven’t won a postseason match-up at Rogers Arena since Game 5 of the 2011 Stanley Cup final.

On the flip side, the Canucks only lost back-to-back games once this season since the beginning of February. They’ve shown to be a resilient group.
“That’s your leadership,” explained Canucks coach Willie Desjardins. “We have real good character in our room.”

Daniel Sedin added: “It seems that every time we lose a game everyone is really focused to get it back on the winning track. Hopefully, it’s the same thing tonight.”

As for the trouble on home ice for the core group over the last few playoffs, Sedin maintained it wasn’t something the players were considering.

“It’s a new year. There’s a new coach, a lot of new players. We look at this year,” he aid.

2. Desjardins was questioned often over the past couple of days about how much he used Henrik and Daniel Sedin in Game 1. Henrik saw 17:29 of ice time, down from his 18:36 in the regular season. Daniel got out there for 16:14, which is a dip from the 18:21 he saw in league play.

They were the top two forwards on the ice in terms of ice time in the regular season for the regular season. For Game 1, Henrik second, behind Radim Vrbata (17:50), while Daniel was fifth, behind both Chris Higgins (16:53) and Nick Bonino (16:24).

3. Vancouver will be looking to put more pressure on Calgary’s top defencemen, who saw massive bumps in their ice time from the regular season. Dennis Wideman, who averaged 24:36 in league play, got out for 30:03 in Game 1, while Kris Russell played 29:07 after averaging 23:56 in the regular season.
Russell, who led the NHL in block shots (283) in league play, had five blocks on Wednesday.

That, too, will be a concern for Vancouver.

“We can’t be frustrated,” said Daniel. “We have to keep shooting. We know that they can sneak through and we have be hungry for rebounds.”

4. Vancouver had an optional morning skate, and seven skaters and two goalies took part. Kevin Bieksa (undisclosed), who skipped practice on Thursday, was missing once again. Desjardins said that the veteran D-man would be a game-time decision but then said that he “should be good.”

Calgary isn’t expected to make any line-up changes, either.

5. To his credit, Desjardins seemed fairly relaxed. Asked about the attention Game 1 received across the province, Desjardins said: “You always like assistant coaches who are passionate. This province is certainly passionate. It’s great to see. We have real good fans.”

Five things we learned heading into Game 1 of the Canucks’ playoff series with the Flames on Thursday.

1. There is a mystery surrounding the health of Flames centre Sean Monahan.

The Flames young star hadn’t skated since the Flames second-last game against the Kings at home on Thursday. He didn’t skate — including not travelling to the Flames’ final game on Saturday in Winnipeg – until Tuesday, when he lasted about 10 minutes at the beginning of practice. Flames coach Bob Hartley was seen talking to the team’s trainer after Monahan went to the dressing room. Monahan took the morning skate with the team on Wednesday and afterwards said the days off the ice were just rest days because he played so much during the regular season. Monahan averaged 19:37 minutes of ice-time per game this season, ranking him 16th amongst NHL forwards and tops in Calgary.

“I felt great, well rested, right now I’m just focused on the start of the game here,” said Monahan. “I’m excited for Game 1.”

Asked if he was letting some bumps and bruises from the season recover with the time off, Monahan said: “Not really. I was just trying to get fresh on my legs. I played a lot of minutes this year and it’s just trying to make sure my legs are fresh and ready to go for Game 1.”

We’ll see, but if Monahan is hurting it could have a big impact on the Flames’ offence, which depends hugely on his line, with Johnny Gaudreau and Jiri Hudler.

2. Eddie Lack will start for the Canucks, which may be the most anticipated news flash of the century.

And centre Brad Richardson, who’s been out much of the second half of the season with a foot/ankle injury will play. Lack has played very well down the stretch in place of injured No. 1 Ryan Miller, who was rusty in his one start (the final game of the season on Saturday versus Edmonton) since returning from a knee sprain.

“Ryan just hasn’t been in enough,” said Canucks’ coach Willie Desjardins. “It was tough for him to come back for that one game. That’s not fair to put him in that situation where he hasn’t had a good chunk of time to get ready. For sure he can get more ready through practice. Eddie played well for us in pressure situations down the stretch and I would expect him to be good tonight.”

Richardson will add grit and much-needed face-off acumen to the Canucks lineup.

Jonas Hiller is expected to get the start for the Flames, with Karri Ramo backing up.

3. It appears that Flames rookie – who has exactly one game of NHL experience – Sam Bennett will make his playoff debut on Wednesday in Game 1.

He’s basically pushing vet Mason Raymond to the press box, but the 18-year-old who the Flames drafted fourth overall last June hasn’t looked out of place after missing most of the season with shoulder surgery. Normally a centre, Bennett will play left wing on the Flames’ second line with centre Mikael Backlund and Joe Colborne. Bennett got into the Flames last regular season and took 33 seconds to get his first NHL point (an assist on Michael Ferland’s goal). Bennett’s

NHL contract will kick in after he’s played 10 games – which of course would only happen if the Flames get past the first round – but Calgary GM Brad Treliving has said that wouldn’t be a consideration if that scenario unfolds. If he’s good enough, he’ll play.

===================================================
Listen to Province Sports Radio’s Game 1 preview, where Jonathan and Patrick discuss Bennett’s potential impact on the series, the Canucks’ power play and who of Brad Richardson and Bo Horvat will have the biggest impact:

It’s a word no one’s quite sure who said it first, but we definitely know where it comes from.

The twins have been playing together forever. They know where each other is going to go. It’s a rare quality …

]]>Sedinery.

It’s a word no one’s quite sure who said it first, but we definitely know where it comes from.

The twins have been playing together forever. They know where each other is going to go. It’s a rare quality – not that they know each other so well, but that they’ve spent so long together. Many, many duos have shown an ability to make plays simply because they know what the other was doing. The first pair in my hockey lifetime to be like this was Kurri and Gretzky.

It’s magical stuff.

Maybe it’s a historical lack of star power that caused Vancouver fans to endlessly yell ‘shooooot’ during games in the 90s. All we wanted then was shots, shots, shots. I’m not sure when that ceased, but you definitely don’t hear as much pleading for shots any more. Was it during the WCE era? Anyway, the Sedins, you just let them do. We have no advice for them. We learned that.

You just let them play – and you watch.

The best part for me was the hear the crowd keep the boil up. We’ve talked often this year about how the crowds at the Rog have been silent so often, it was pretty great to hear the opposite.

Let’s have more of that, shall we?

The Home Team

It still amazes me how well the Twins bounced back this year. It goes without saying they *the* key for the Canucks in this series. The Flames really aren’t that great. They don’t exactly have a pile of depth. They’re playing Derek Engelland in their top four. They don’t have much of an offence (more on that later). But they do have a couple things going for them: some pretty solid goaltending and insane discipline. They don’t take penalties.

Anyway, in honour of the Flames, let’s all remember this.

We’ve been talking so much about the goal vs. LA, I just had to bring that classic out of the vault. It won Henrik the scoring title, and it probably sealed his Hart Trophy.

But just consider the play – was it better than the no-look pass to Daniel last week to set up the tying goal vs. the Kings? (It got Henrik his 700th, you’ll recall…)

On the other side of the ledger, it’s all about Sean Monahan. Did you realize the centre, still just 20, has 53 goals in the NHL already? He’s the lynchpin on the first line for the Flames. His wingers are Jiri Hudler, in his career-best season, and Johnny Hockey, who we know all about. That’s the heart of the Calgary offence. You stop them, you’ve pretty much ground the Flames to a halt. They’ve got a couple tidy defencemen in T.J. Brodie and Dennis Wideman, both players you’d love to see in the Canucks lineup, but beyond them, there’s not much else. Of course, you could say the same thing about your Vancouver Canucks, writes Jim Jamieson in his exhaustive playoff preview.

Parity is the name of the NHL game in 2014-15, Ed Willes writes in his weekly musings column. Goals overall may be down from a decade ago, but the numbers have been flat for the past couple seasons. What we have seen, as coaching has developed to a new level, is that scoring has spread itself around. There remain superstars (see above) but there’s a lot of middle-of-the-order quality. How much of that is correlated to the decline in fighting? Anyway, is there really a clear cup favourite? You crazy people told me in the Morning Skate two weeks you figured the Canucks were a hot shot to go all the way this season. I still think you’re crazy, but I can also see a path now to the cup which wasn’t terribly obvious at the end of March; remember we thought there was no way the Kings would miss, and how they’d beat up on the Canucks? Didn’t happen. That’s crazy.

Slap Shots has been told by two sources that the Kings locked the door to their locker room following a defeat on the road within the last two weeks so that Sutter could not get in and deliver what the players apparently expected to be another in a series of lectures/tirades.
As the tale was told, after Sutter finally tracked down an arena operative to unlock the door, he was greeted by three heavy waste receptacles lined up as barricade to what had become an empty room.

LA Times beat reporter Lisa Dillman said on Saturday she’d spoken to a senior Kings official about the story, who told her there’s “nothing to it” – whatever that means. But the story kept going and going, and became a featured part of Dean Lombardi’s post-season press conference with the LA media. (Despite rumours earlier in the day that it might have gone down in Vancouver a week ago, it was actually two months ago in Tampa.)

The fact remains the Kings, a very good team, came up short because they only won two times in OT or the shootout (out of 10!) and struggled at crucial moments to score. Every team that qualified for the playoffs in the West scored more goals than LA. They went 0-3 on their Western Canada road trip last week. They couldn’t get the job done when the season was on the line. They also couldn’t get it done in OT or the shootout, but a lot of that might have just been bad luck.

Meanwhile, Robyn Regehr has retired.

In what he says was his last NHL game, Robyn Regehr played 21:54, was +1 and dished out three hits. Good guy. Wishing him the best.

Playoff Picks

Canadian Content

Mark Stone’s amazing late season push for the Senators was one of the under-discussed stories in the NHL in the late stages of the season. A lot of that had to do with the Hamburglar. But Stone is a heckuva player when it comes to faces.

It’s handy he can score a goal or two, too.

As for the scene in Toronto, if Dave Nonis didn’t know a year ago he’d been handed the longest ‘one more chance’ note in hockey history, well maybe that’s why he’s out of a job today. Brendan Shanahan was hired to do one thing: end the insanity. When he came in, he spoke with everyone in the Leafs organization, be they a scout, a manager, a PR person, what have you. He wanted to understand the organization from top to bottom. Who was responsible for what? Were there people who were less than beneficial to his plan a modern, forward-thinking organization, the kinds of people who were doing the same thing they’d always done and never getting better results?

But as Scott Stinson points out, Dave Nonis labeled his group as “capable” in January when he axed Randy Carlyle. His capable group went on to win 5 more games on the season under interim coach Jeff Horachek.

Shanahan will address the media today.

Saying what you feel

Have you heard of Dale Hansen? Dale Hansen is 66 year old fat white guy, who does local sports in Dallas. He’ll tell you all that. And then he’ll tell you how it is. He’ll call out the Cowboys for signing players like …, who have a history of domestic violence. He doesn’t not just because he really believes in teams hiring good citizens – he also does it because Brad Garrett, the coach, has gone on at length about how his team is built around character guys. How does a guy who’s so good but his old team still doesn’t want him because of his horrendous off-field behaviour get a job with a team that talks about men with character? Hansen points to that. He also points to college basketball fans who raise signs that say ‘white power’. He calls out their weak-kneed parents who pull out every excuse in the book – ‘oh, they just didn’t know what they were doing!’ He knows where their stupidity comes from, either it was a mistake they graduated from high school, let alone a mistake they got into college in the first place, or their learned it from their parents.

Dale Hansen tells you how it is – the amazing thing in the few clips assembled by Bryan Curtis in his profile is how incisive and deep each one is, but also how simple each one is. They’re brave only in that he took the time to boil everything down to the core. What’s the issue, you can tell he’s asked himself. What’s my point. The journey takes just two to three minutes and if you want to argue with him, well, that’s your right, but you’re probably just shooting at semantics, not at the core.

There’s a line at the end about how he’s the last of a breed. I hope not. I hope it’s that the breed has changed and will pop up somewhere else. We spend so much time being outraged online, but it’s the calm collected voices who channel that outrage and give us new things to think about who always barge through the clutter. Everything annoys us. Everything upsets us. But most of the time, there’s something else in there; remember to take a deep breath and listen for a moment. Life is hard – but after that the hard work it’s pretty great.

Fun with Sports

Fantastic premise: spin around the ball 13 times, then see if you can score a goal.

The moral, of course, is spinning around the ball and then trying to do things has few long-term consequences while yielding maximum fun.

As the NHL notes, there were only 6 teams in 64-65. The point spread at the top? That’s great. But how about noting that the fifth place Rangers finished 22 points out of the playoffs. The season before, the Rangers were 5th as well, and were 17 points out of the playoffs. The next season, they were sixth and the Bruins where fifth, missing out by a whopping 26 points. That’s not parity.

‘My name is Kenny, I’ve been making wrong decisions my whole life, I’m gonna go with the grill.”

You go on, man, you. Go. On.

Could you imagine?

There’s a one per cent chance the Kings win the McDavid sweepstakes, two per cent chance for the Bruins. Would there be rioting in the streets of Buffalo?

Would you?

Looch may be on the blocks this summer. He’s got a year left on his contract, which will pay him $6 million in 2015-16. He’s still in his physical prime, so it’s a good bet his so-so 2014-15 isn’t a future trend but just a blip along the way. So, would you?

Fishing the Pacific

With the team missing out on the playoffs for the first time in a dozen years, most figure this is the last days of Todd McLellan’s time with the Sharks – but it’s definitely the last hurrah for his assistant Larry Robinson. He’s retiring from coaching, after three decades in the mix. He’ll continue to work with San Jose’s player development department, but will base himself in Florida, where he’s maintained a home for many years. “Just my own personal finances doesn’t allow me to afford to live in California,” he told the San Jose Mercury News’ Curtis Pashelka.

Back to Dallas (sort of) for the tale of Jim Dent, a massively successful sports writer who’s a massive non-success as a drunk. He’s been convicted of drunk driving ten times. He faces charges which could land him behind bars for 10 years – not the first time he’ll have visited the slammer. And all the while, he maintained a national profile while writing about Texas and Texas-related football.

Meanwhile, in Oakland…(many seem to think he was serious about the chain link nets – I’m not so sure):

The black top is getting the finishing touches. Wanted chain link nets but NCAA said no, maybe a black rim 😃 pic.twitter.com/wVKgQLjGP4

Here are five things we’re pondering prior to the Canucks’ final regular-season game.

1. The Canucks, via Twitter Friday, proclaimed that Ryan Miller would be starting in goal today. Miller hasn’t played since injuring his right knee in a Feb. 22 contest on Long Island.

Is he rusty? Can he handle the rigours of a game yet? Can he handle the traffic?

And you can take it one step further, too. What if he’s brilliant? Does that give Willie Desjardins any reason to contemplate starting Miller in the Game 1 versus the Calgary Flames ahead of Eddie Lack, who has been so good down the stretch? Miller is the big-ticket guy, but Lack has proven capable of No. 1 duty of late.

As a reminder, Miller is 28-15-1, with a 2.47 goals against and a .913 save percentage, on the season so far; Lack is 18-13-4, with a 2.45 goals against and a .921 save percentage.

In his past two games, Lack has stopped 64 of 65 shots. He’s won six of his past 10 decisions. In the last month, his goals against is 2.44, his save percentage .922.

Miller, for what it’s worth, is 11-0-0, with a 1.99 goals against and a .930 save percentage in his career against those Oilers.

2. The Canucks didn’t have a morning skate Saturday, making it hard to guess what their lineup would be. It wouldn’t be surprising to see Desjardins slip in winger Brandon McMillan, who’s played once in the past month, or defenceman Ryan Stanton, who hasn’t suited up since March 12, and rest a veteran.

The game does have some meaning in regards to home-ice advantage. Vancouver is two points up on the Flames (45-29-7), so if Calgary wins on the road in Winnipeg tonight Vancouver will need a point to get the extra home contest in the first round. The Winnipeg game is a noon start, so Coach Desjardins will know exactly what’s at stake before setting his lineup.

3. As much as Desjardins might sit a vet or two and be careful with the ice time of the guys who play, will he risk messing with the chemistry the power-play unit has garnered of late? Vancouver’s man-advantage unit is on an 11-for-30 roll (36.7 per cent) in its past 11 games.

As of Saturday morning, the Canucks were eighth in the NHL in power-play percentage (19.6).

For those scoring at home, Calgary was 12th (19.0 per cent).

Prior to play Saturday, Vancouver had the second-best penalty kill (85.7 per cent), behind only Minnesota (86.6). Calgary was 22nd (80.2 per cent).

4. The 20-goal plateau is still meaningful in the NHL. Vancouver has Daniel Sedin (19), Henrik Sedin (18), Alex Burrows (18) and Shawn Matthias (18) in that vicinity. Does that play into Desjardins’s thinking at all when it comes to power-play time or maybe getting a guy out on the ice late in the game?

Despite the struggles with the No. 2 unit throughout the season, Matthias hasn’t seen much man-advantage time at all. He has just one power-play goal on the campaign.

Plenty was made by media and fans alike of the Canucks’ re-signing of winger Derek Dorsett and defenceman Luca Sbisa and how it limited their chance of bringing back Matthias, who’s a pending unrestricted free agent, and defenceman and sudden power-play spark Yannick Weber, who’s a pending restricted free agent.

It’s not a particularly celebrated UFA crop and Matthias would be crazy if he didn’t consider other offers. This might be his one shot at a major payday. He has one fewer even-strength goal than Pavel Datsyuk and two fewer than Ryan Johansen, for instance.

It’s not to say that he’s the same player as those two guys, but you can bet it’s something that his people bring up when it comes time to talk contract.

5. The Canucks will honour Gino Odjick as part of tonight’s pre-game festivities. It’s further proof that this Trevor Linden regime is cognizant of what the fans are interested in.

The Canucks are asking that fans are in their seats by 6:45 p.m. Here’s betting it’s an emotional event.

]]>http://blogs.theprovince.com/2015/04/11/canucks-game-day-talking-miller-return-power-play-chemistry-and-gino-tribute/feed/0Vancouver Canucks v New York IslanderssteveewenHow much time will Henrik Sedin see today against the Oilers? That will be one of the things worth watching. (Getty Images.) Canucks Game Day: Miller’s back, playoff permutations, OEL vs. Lackhttp://blogs.theprovince.com/2015/04/09/canucks-game-day-millers-back-playoff-permutations-oel-vs-lack/
http://blogs.theprovince.com/2015/04/09/canucks-game-day-millers-back-playoff-permutations-oel-vs-lack/#commentsThu, 09 Apr 2015 19:23:19 +0000http://blogs.theprovince.com/?p=185788Coyotes (24-48-8) at Canucks (46-29-5)Rogers Arena 7 p.m.; TV: Sportsnet Pacific; Radio TSN 1040

Five things we learned heading into the Canucks’ game with the Coyotes on Thursday.

Five things we learned heading into the Canucks’ game with the Coyotes on Thursday.

1. Ryan Miller will back up Eddie Lack. This was confirmed by coach Willie Desjardins. Which means, obviously, that Miller is cleared to play. It also means that Miller will start Saturday against the Oilers to get him one game before the playoffs start. Miller wasn’t made available to reporters.

The Canucks goalie has recovered right on schedule from a sprained right knee he suffered on Feb. 22. Miller’s getting the green light to play paved the way for Jacob Markstrom to be returned to AHL Utica on Thursday morning.

Asked if it would be good get Miller a regular season game (Saturday) before the playoffs begin, Desjardins said: “He has to be an option for us. We can’t have him on the bench if he’s not an option. If you haven’t played in a while it would be nice to get a game in and play. That’s something we’d like to happen and get a look at him. He played real well for us before he got hurt, so we’d like to get him going again.”

Said Lack: “It’s been a fun run for sure. I (will have) tied my games played from last year.”

2. While a win over the truly horrible Coyotes on Thursday is key to the Canucks chances of getting home-ice advantage in the first round, the Flames can lock up a Calgary-Vancouver series if they beat the Kings in any fashion in Calgary. In that scenario, the Flames would still be able to overtake the Canucks for home-ice advantage, pending both teams’ final games.

Forward Shawn Matthias is banged up and will take Thursday’s game off for “maintenance” and expects to be back in the lineup for Saturday’s regular-season finale against the Oilers, but he knows the Canucks need to

“We’ve had a lot of highs in the last 24 hours in making the playoffs and stuff, but hopefully we can feed off that energy,” said Matthias. “But we can’t just be thinking about that. There’s still two games left and there’s still a lot to play for, so we’ve got to keep our focus and play hard tonight.”

3. With Matthias out, it’s likely that Sven Baertschi will get his spot on a bottom-six line with Linden Vey and Derek Dorsett. Centre Brad Richardson (foot) skated on his own with skills coach Glenn Carnegie before the optional morning skate.

4. Coyotes high-end defenceman Oliver Ekman-Larsson says he would love to score a goal on fellow Swede and former teammate Eddie Lack tonight. The two played for Leksands in the Swedish second division in the 2008-09 season and are good friends, but Ekman-Larsson is currently tied with Phil Housley for most goals by a defenceman in a season (23) for the franchise. Housley did it twice for the old Winnipeg Jets, 1990-91 and 1991-92.

“Obviously, we’re playing against a good team tonight, so we want to go out there and have fun, wrap up the season nice these last two games,” said Ekman-Larsson.

He added: “I would love to score a goal on (Lack) tonight. Obviously, I have a chance to break the record here tonight or Saturday so I have a lot to play for.”

Coyotes captain Shane Doan will miss the game with a lower body injury.

]]>http://blogs.theprovince.com/2015/04/09/canucks-game-day-millers-back-playoff-permutations-oel-vs-lack/feed/0Canucks practice (video and photo)jimjamiesonCanucks Game Day: Canucks are “sitting right where we want to be,” in standings, says Kings vet Stollhttp://blogs.theprovince.com/2015/04/06/canucks-game-day-canucks-are-sitting-right-where-we-want-to-be-in-standings-says-kings-vet-stoll/
http://blogs.theprovince.com/2015/04/06/canucks-game-day-canucks-are-sitting-right-where-we-want-to-be-in-standings-says-kings-vet-stoll/#commentsMon, 06 Apr 2015 19:42:56 +0000http://blogs.theprovince.com/?p=185419Here are five things we’re contemplating as the regular season winds down and the Canucks (45-29-5) try to land a playoff position tonight against the Kings (39-25-14) at the Rog (7 p.m., Sportsnet Pacific, TSN 1040)…

1. A Vancouver win …

]]>Here are five things we’re contemplating as the regular season winds down and the Canucks (45-29-5) try to land a playoff position tonight against the Kings (39-25-14) at the Rog (7 p.m., Sportsnet Pacific, TSN 1040)…

1. A Vancouver win in regulation, coupled with a Winnipeg Jets’ loss in regulation time in Minnesota tonight, clinches a playoff spot for Vancouver.

The Kings, meanwhile, hold down the second of two wildcard spots in the West with four games left on their slate. They’re tied with the Jets in points but hold the tiebreaker.

It’s that simple.

“It’s the best time of the year,” said Daniel Sedin, Vancouver’s first-line left winger.

Kings veteran centre Jarret Stoll added: “These are fun games to be a part of it, fun games to play.”

Kings defenceman Drew Doughty says that his club isn’t simply looking to qualify for the postseason. He says they’re shooting for second spot in the Pacific Division, a spot that the Canucks currently have. Los Angeles is only three points in back of Vancouver, with a game in hand.

“It’s very much in reach,” said Doughty.

“We want to get home ice (advantage in the first round) if we can.”

Stoll added: “They’re sitting right where we want to be.”

2. Even though they aren’t in the playoffs yet, there are hockey people out there picking the Kings to repeat as Stanley Cup champions.

They certainly didn’t hurt that line of thinking Saturday, when they held the Colorado Avalanche to 10 measly shots in a 3-1 win on Saturday.

Vancouver is 1-3-0 versus Los Angeles this season, but they won the last one in convincing fashion, taking a 4-1 win on March 21. Vancouver fired 42 shots on the Kings net that game, the most that Los Angeles has given up in their past 21 games. Los Angeles has the most stifling defence in the league; they’re allowing 27 shots per game, the fewest in the NHL.

Vancouver is giving up 29.8 shots per game, putting them 17th among the NHL’s 30 clubs. The Buffalo Sabres are bottom of the table, at 35.3.

“They’re so good defensively. You get a chance to shoot the puck, you have to take it,” said Sedin. “You have to skate. You have to move your feet.”

Vancouver centre Linden Vey admitted that the Canucks let the Kings dictate the pace earlier in the year, but in their last meeting, “I think we stuck more to our game and tried to force them to play the style we’re comfortable with playing.”

Doughty’s take on that most recent outing against the Canucks?

“We just didn’t have our best effort. That was probably one of our worst games in recent months,” he said. “They played a good game. We didn’t. We were still in it.”

3. That game against the Kings featured Henrik Sedin of all people nearly starting a rumble when he got Kings goalie Jonathan Quick in the head with knee going for a rebound. Quick threw a punch during the melee that followed and Eddie Lack came well out of his net, suggesting that he wanted a piece of Quick.

The Canucks have been talking about getting traffic in front of Quick yet again. Los Angeles is well are of the game plan.

“We have to make sure that doesn’t happen. They did that pretty well against last time,” said Stoll.

4. Lack gets the call again in the Vancouver net.

The Stork is looking to rebound after allowing 12 goals in his last three games, including five on 36 shots in that 5-4 loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday afternoon.

“That’s kind of how it is in this business. Either you’re the hero or you’re the bad guy, you know? Tonight, I definitely want to be the hero again,” said Lack.

The question that followed that answer gave Lack a chance to throw his teammates under the bus, suggesting that Vancouver was giving up too many shots and point-blank chances of late.

Lack deflected it away nicely.

Yes, the whole save theme was intentional.

“No, no, no,” Lack said when asked about problems with the defensive structure of late. “Some games you get 10 scoring chances. Some games you get 20. We’ve been playing some good teams. Obviously Winnipeg was very desperate, too. They came after us. It’s just part of the game.”

Lack didn’t skate with the team on Sunday. He said that goalie coach Rollie Melanson told him to “stay away.”

“It was a beautiful day at the Sea Wall,” said Lack.

5. Vancouver had an optional morning skate, so there’s some guessing involved in predicting their line-up, but winger Sven Baertschi, who made his Vancouver debut against Winnipeg, was out early to take shots on Ryan Miller (knee) and stayed out late, so it’s assumed that he’s sitting out tonight. That would mean that Ronalds Kenins, who was scratched against the Jets, goes back in on the fourth line, teaming with Jannik Hansen to flank Bo Horvat.

The rest of the line-up should look like the Winnipeg game, with Henrik Sedin between Daniel Sedin and Alex Burrows; Nick Bonino centring Radim Vrbata and Chris Higgins; and Vey between Shawn Matthias and Derek Dorsett.

The expected defence pairings have Alexander Edler and Chris Tanev together, along with Yannick Weber and Dan Hamhuis and Luca Sbisa and Kevin Bieksa.

1. Bo Horvat celebrated his 20th birthday on Sunday, but he was focused on hockey and the Canucks’ impending showdown with the Kings.

“Not at lot of 20-year-olds can say they’ve played in the NHL, so that’s obviously pretty cool,” said Horvat. “It feels like I’m getting older. It sucks not being a teenager, but you’ve to grow up some time.”

Horvat has certainly done that. He’s made a near-seamless transition from major junior to the NHL. But his line – Horvat centring Jannik Hansen and a few other wingers — has had its troubles in recent games. He knows that has to change.

“We’re going to have our ups and downs,” said Horvat. “Every game is not going to be spectacular for us. The last couple of games haven’t been our greatest and we’ve been on the minus side a couple of times. It’s going to happen. Everybody goes through it and our line is going through it right now. It’s just about bouncing back and wanting to work that much harder to prove ourselves and get back to where we were.”

A good place to start would be against the Kings.

“L.A.’s going to come out real hard,” understated Horvat.

2. It doesn’t appear that Sven Baertschi will dress against the Kings, but the newly acquired winger says he felt his debut with the Canucks went well in Saturday’s 5-4 loss in Winnipeg. Baertschi started out strong, nearly scoring and setting up linemate Derek Dorsett for a point-blank chance that didn’t go in. The Swiss native did take two penalties, though the first was trying to catch up on a Jets’ odd-man rush when a Canucks D-man fell down.

“I thought I started pretty well,” said Baertschi. “I took those two penalties, though I didn’t really agree with them. Other than that, I felt pretty good. It was a hard game, the kind where you have to keep your head up. But overall it was a pretty good game.”

“Just to get out of the zone and make plays,” he said. “There wasn’t many times where we chipped it into the zone and chased it. I realized when I got to Utica, it’s just a different game for me.”

Baertschi, who already knew Luca Sbisa and Jannik Hansen before coming to the Canucks organization in a trade deadline deal from Calgary for a second-rounder, said coach Willie Desjardins has given him good feedback.

“Coach said he was pretty happy with my game,” said Baertschi. “He knows what I can do and he understands my game. I’m really happy to be here.”

Said Desjardins: “I think he did well. He’s a real skilled player, has a great shot, he’s quick. I think he’s got a real good upside for us. We’re still looking at moving guys around a little bit but we just wanted to get a look at him and let him see what it’s like to be with the team. I thought for his first game he had a couple of great chances in the first period, set up Dorsett and had a great chance himself.”

3. The Canucks have lost two straight heading into the Kings game, but of greater concern is that they’ve given up 12 goals in their last three. They’ll need a serious tightening up on their own end to have success against L.A. The last few games haven’t been pretty.

]]>http://blogs.theprovince.com/2015/04/06/canucks-hat-trick-bos-birthday-baertschis-debut-too-many-goals-going-in/feed/1horvatblues033015jimjamiesonbaertschistempniakscores040415Fridays with Ed and Paul: Canucks, MLB and noisy music in Rogers Arenahttp://blogs.theprovince.com/2015/04/03/fridays-with-ed-and-paul-canucks-mlb-and-noisy-music-in-rogers-arena/
http://blogs.theprovince.com/2015/04/03/fridays-with-ed-and-paul-canucks-mlb-and-noisy-music-in-rogers-arena/#commentsFri, 03 Apr 2015 13:02:11 +0000http://blogs.theprovince.com/?p=185169In this week;s Province Sports Radio: Ed Willes edition, Paul and Ed take a closer look at the Canucks…do their recent performances suggest that there¹s actually hope they could really do something in the playoffs, and
which match ups are …]]>In this week;s Province Sports Radio: Ed Willes edition, Paul and Ed take a closer look at the Canucks…do their recent performances suggest that there¹s actually hope they could really do something in the playoffs, and
which match ups are best for the local heroes.

They also bandy about this weekend¹s Final Four, and why Canada should be envious of the U.S., before getting into the rumours of Major League Baseball flirting with a return to Montreal, and possibly Vancouver.

Lastly, in Get Off My Lawn, Paul and Ed shake their fists at the noisy music bothering all the wrinkles in Rogers Arena.

The Chicago Blackhawks are still eyeing the top of the Central Division, or more realistically second place, or even …

]]>The Canucks are trying to edge closer to nailing a playoff spot — and claiming home-ice advantage in the first round.

The Chicago Blackhawks are still eyeing the top of the Central Division, or more realistically second place, or even trying to fend off the current wild-card-holding Minnesota Wild.

So consider this a massive game for both teams (SNP, TSN 1040, 5:30 p.m.). And while the Canucks have no doubt exceeded expectations by beating the St. Louis Blues and Nashville Predators in a back-to-back earlier this week, that’s earlier-this-week’s news. You know, what have you done for me lately? Here are three things to ponder as we await puck drop …

1. I had a chance to attend one of the Canucks-Blackhawks playoff games at the United Center back in 2011. Or maybe it was 2010. Or 2009. I can’t quite recall, life’s a bit of a blur. But I had a chance. It was a guys’ trip and, looking back, it was one of those trip-of-a-lifetime sort of opportunities. I said no. I had to work. Great. I always have to work. What a terrible excuse. In hindsight, could I not have bailed out of here for 72 hours or less? Of course I could have. The guys had a great time. The city rocked. The hockey was intense. And the United Center experience was — for a group of guys used to attending NHL games at Rogers Arena — mind-blowing. They told me it was deafening. Constantly fun, without a break in the fun. And that the atmosphere in the building during the anthems made the hair on their neck stand up.

I point this out because, as far as the Canucks and Blackhawks are concerned, the playoffs are on. The Canucks could, conceivably, find themselves inches from clinching a playoff spot tonight with a win in Chicago and the Los Angeles Kings losing at home to the Edmonton Oilers. (Hmmmm, not so likely.) The Blackhawks are also in an interesting position: They’re still eyeing top spot in the Central Division, being five points back of the Nashville Predators but having two games in hand; on the other hand, they’re just three points up on the Minnesota Wild, and wouldn’t want to trade places with them and end up in a wild-card position.

There are just eight current Canucks who were in the lineup on April 26, 2011 — the last time the two clubs faced each other in the playoffs. They’ll remember what it’s like to play the Blackhawks when it matters most. And tonight’s not far off.

2. What’s up with Zack Kassian?

Breaking: #Canucks' forward Zack Kassian undergoes successful back surgery, out for remainder of the season.

But, seriously, Kassian has been missing from the Canucks lineup ever since he knocked down a linesman during a game against the Toronto Maple Leafs on March 14. The following game, he was scratched. Back spasms, apparently.

The Canucks have gone 6-2-1 in Kassian’s absence. They may have missed his occasional offensive gifts, but they’ve also averaged three-and-a-half goals while he’s been gone — well above their season average. Their fully healthy defence, which has played pretty well overall, hasn’t missed his occasional lollygagging.

But in a market that still gets worked up over who won the deal between the Canucks and Buffalo Sabres — Cody Hodgson has scored 44 goals in 213 games since then, Kassian 32 in 171 — it’s been an amazingly quiet three weeks. No usual wringing of hands. No wondering why Willie Desjardins can’t just stick him in the top six — the only place, some say, where a guy of Kassian’s unique talents can succeed. Silence.

Says Jason Botchford from Chicago: “You think people should get worked up over oft-scratched players who are hurt? Injuries happen, what can you do? Why get worked up?”

And then there’s this, says Botch: “People mention it mostly because of what he brings physically. (But) the team is winning, beating ‘heavy’ teams without him.”

Kassian’s not on the road trip, of course. He, Brad Richardson and Ryan Miller stayed behind in Vancouver. But let’s say he does get back at some point. Where does he fit in?

“I don’t know,” says Botch. “I guess they’d work him into the lineup on Linden Vey’s line, but I can’t pick a guy who would obviously come out.”

In early February, when Kassian scored three goals in three games, and in late February, when he scored four goals in three games, he sure seemed to cause delirious excitement here. But maybe it’s the three goals he scored in the other 36 games that offer a better indication of what he truly brings to the Canucks — and whether his presence in a playoff lineup would be a waste of a precious spot.

3. Scoreboard-watching, this time of year, is a fabulous pastime, and you can really allow your imagination to run wild, thinking about who will make the playoffs, who will miss them, potentially tantalizing matchups and more. So now, with 11 days remaining in the regular season, another storyline has emerged: The Canucks could well, by the time the postseason begins, be rid of their worst demons of recent years.

Like, for instance, the San Jose Sharks, who swept the Canucks in a pathetic first-round series two years ago. The Sharks beat the Colorado Avalanche Wednesday night, but are 10 points back of Vancouver and, at best, would need to run the table to have a remote chance to finish third in the division, and almost as remote a chance to squeeze into a wild-card spot. This just isn’t happening.

Then there are the always haunting Los Angeles Kings, and doesn’t the Canucks’ stunning win over them 12 days ago mean everything right about now? The Canucks were just two points up on the Kings going into that matinee. Thirty-six hours later, after beating the Arizona Coyotes in the second half of a back-t0-back, it was a six-point lead. A few days later it was back to two points as the Kings ripped apart the three New York-area teams, and now it’s an incredible seven points.

An unlikely scenario has the Canucks beating the Blackhawks tonight, followed a couple of hours later by a shocking Kings loss to the Edmonton Oilers at home. That unlikely scenario would put the Canucks up by nine points on the Kings — and the Kings having just five games left in their schedule. The more likely scenario has the seven-point bulge remaining, or even being trimmed to five tonight. And with the Kings breathing down the Winnipeg Jets’ necks for the final wild-card spot, it begs the question: Wouldn’t a Canucks overtime or shootout win Saturday afternoon over the Jets — giving the Jets a critical point — make some sense in helping get rid of this demon? So head-spinning and complicated!

Finally, there’s Claude Julien’s bunch in Boston. The 2011 Stanley Cup champion Bruins were supposed to go away, but somehow have found the motivation to try to make the playoffs. They’re in Detroit tonight, a big game for both. Meanwhile, the Ottawa Senators — three points back of Boston with a game in hand — host the Tampa Bay Lightning, who are battling for top spot in the Atlantic.

For Canucks fans who’ve been regularly tormented by the Bruins, the Kings and the Sharks since June 13, 2011 — the night the Bruins pounded the Canucks in Game 6 at the Garden — the imagination runs wild.

]]>http://blogs.theprovince.com/2015/04/02/canucks-hat-trick-that-united-center-roar-kassians-murky-future-destroying-the-demons/feed/0canucksbeatpreds033115jonnymac68unitedcenterfanszackkassiansharksbeatcanucks2013The Morning Skate, March 31: Dull does it for Canucks, Botch rages on the Rog, happy bday Gordie Howe!http://blogs.theprovince.com/2015/03/31/the-morning-skate-march-31-dull-does-it-for-canucks-botch-rages-on-the-rog-happy-bday-gordie-howe/
http://blogs.theprovince.com/2015/03/31/the-morning-skate-march-31-dull-does-it-for-canucks-botch-rages-on-the-rog-happy-bday-gordie-howe/#commentsTue, 31 Mar 2015 16:18:54 +0000http://blogs.theprovince.com/?p=184701Was it just me, or was the Canucks-Blues game a tad on the dull side?

And is it just me, or was that OK for one night? Perfectly fine, boring hockey played to near-perfection by the Canucks, beating a St. …

]]>Was it just me, or was the Canucks-Blues game a tad on the dull side?

And is it just me, or was that OK for one night? Perfectly fine, boring hockey played to near-perfection by the Canucks, beating a St. Louis team that has just as much to play for as the Canucks — in their case, trying to win the Central Division so they can play a wild-card team in the playoffs; in the Canucks’ case, trying to avoid being, perhaps, that wild-card team, or even missing the playoffs.

So it was dull, other than the first few minutes, when the Canucks were typically oblivious to the importance of a good start — they failed to engage early, and failed to score in the first period for a stunning 40th time this season. Then Shawn Matthias scored on a sweet breakaway deke. Nick Bonino served up the first good example of hand-eye since his timely swipe-out-of-the-air against the Los Angeles Kings 10 days ago. And Radim Vrbata scored again. (He might just want to keep shooting. It works for him.)

It was one of those nights when the scoreboard-watching fit perfectly with the Canucks’ performance. Early on, it seemed like the Kings might once again win. Early on, it seemed like the Calgary Flames might fall behind the Kings again. And in the end, the Canucks won. The Flames won. The Kings lost. All in relatively ho-hum fashion.

For one night, that was just fine.

The Home Team

Our man Botch was on the ground for us at the Scottrade Center in beautiful St. Louis. We spoke earlier Monday, a few hours before gametime, on Province Sports Radio. At co-host Patrick Johnston’s behest, I refrained from asking Botch if he’d soaked up the splendor of the Gateway Arch — you know, St. Louis’s iconic monument. The world’s tallest arch, according to our friends at the Wiki Library. (Botch doesn’t want to be asked about arches, or rivers, or museums, or children’s literature, on a hockey podcast. And Patrick doesn’t want to anger Botch.) Botch did get a bit worked up about the atmosphere at Rogers Arena. He’s from Toronto, originally. He understands why the Air Canada Centre — and Maple Leaf Gardens before the ACC — are so quiet. He can’t quite wrap his head around the sounds of silence at the Rog. We discussed how it’s a cultural thing, a West Coast thing. How it’s just not kosher to clap and cheer, because you might just stand out. And then, when the playoffs begin — if the playoffs begin — all of a sudden it will be perfectly kosher to clap and cheer, like some switch was flipped and all of a sudden we’re wild and crazy guys.

Then it was game time. Post-game, Botch couldn’t help but salute Radim Vrbata, who sealed Monday’s game with a shot off the right wing that completely flummoxed Blues goalie Jake Allen. Vrbata has 31 goals now. But more importantly he has enlivened what was a deader than dead second line. The first line wasn’t that obvious Monday. Didn’t matter. As Ed Willes put it in his post-game column, “All season long the Canucks have been looking for consistent production from a second line and Bonino, Vrbata and Chris Higgins have been found money lately.”

Finally, before bed, Botch delivered the always entertaining Provies. (And it should be mentioned that there probably wasn’t much bed for Botch. The Provies landed just before midnight St. Louis time. Then, this morning, Botch headed to the airport, where he flew southeast to Charlotte, N.C. And now, as we speak, he’s turning around in Charlotte and flying northwest — yep, back in the direction of St. Louis — to Nashville. This is a very sexy life that hockey writers lead.) Lots of gold in the Provies, as usual. I was interested to learn that Hunter Shinkaruk (above) has joined Sven Baertschi (Jim Jamieson did a great story on the former Abbotsford Heat player on the weekend) as red-hot Utica Comets.

I was also interested to learn that Botch, as part of the local branch of the Professional Hockey Writers Association, voted for Henrik Sedin as the Canucks’ nominee for the Masterton Trophy (he’ll be announced today). Henrik’s accomplishments this season — particularly in light of the disastrous but mercifully short-lived Tortorella Era — have been well-documented. But here’s something: “An idea was hatched locally to vote the Sedins as a twosome, rather than as individuals. How can you pick one and not the other in something like this? This was not well supported by the association as a whole.”

This is true. It’s what Willie always does after the enemy scores. It’s either a squirrel or it’s a beaver. Whatever it is, it’s displeased.

So now the Canucks move on to Nashville and the Predators — and yes, they would have arrived in Nashville about a dozen hours, easily a dozen hours, before Botch. And just as the Canucks have had a stunning turnaround season, so have the Predators under new head coach Peter Laviolette. They clinched a playoff spot on the weekend — they’d missed the postseason the last two years — and the Canucks’ win Monday enabled them to maintain a three-point lead over the Blues, and a four-point lead over the Chicago Blackhawks, for top spot in the Central. It should be noted, by the way, that a Canucks’ win would give them a seven-point lead over the Kings (who would have one game in hand). Just over a week ago there was a six-point lead. Then, all of a sudden, it was a two-point lead. Seven-point lead would be better than a two-point lead. Just saying.

No Weber on ice this morning for #Preds. But James Neal, Matt Cullen and Eric Nystrom are skating.

Whew. No Shea Weber. Let’s get pumped for Nashville with a little Nashville music. It’s not country. No sirree, Bob. It’s Vinyl Thief. It’s sweet. It’s cool. And the lead singer looks a little like Simply Red’s Mick Hucknall. Crazy.

Now the Predators attempt to win their division for the first time ever. Here’s a look back at 10 games that have got them here — and a reminder that, like Canucks rookie Bo Horvat, the Predators have a rookie in Filip Forsberg who can make a huge impact on a team.

That was just last week, the overtime winner against the Habs. That kid’s good. A surefire Calder nominee, though he might just lose the trophy to the Flames’ Johnny Gaudreau.

Incidentally, interesting to see the results of our most recent Morning Skate poll, which Patrick Johnston posted on Monday. He asked, quite simply, for a grade on the Canucks’ season. Fifty-four per cent of respondents gave the Canucks a B, which is a serious improvement on the 2013-14 season. About one-third offered an A. Son, that’s a very good report card.

Now, if you had to guess which Canuck is a “human robot,” who would you guess it is? How about Ryan Miller. His wife, Noureen DeWulf, is one of the, um, stars of W Network’s Hockey Wives. The next episode airs Wednesday at 7 and 10 p.m., and one of the focuses is DeWulf’s ongoing pregnancy, and how lucky she was to have Miller in L.A. to remember where her keys are and put her coffee in a to-go mug. Just watch!

In the same episode, in a much more serious storyline, George Parros’s wife, Tiffany, opens up about how friends reacted both to him no longer being an Anaheim Duck — which seriously curtailed their social life — and, perhaps more importantly, insensitivity toward the serious concussion he suffered when he fought the Toronto Maple Leafs’ Colton Orr about a year-and-a-half ago.

Ben Kuzma told me on Monday that, when word came down Sunday evening that Harold Druken had died, Canucks fans, and even some local media, started to freak out that the 36-year-old former Canuck had died.

Surfing the Pacific

So just to catch up:

The Flames: Beat the Dallas Stars 5-2 Monday night — real shame about the Stars — to stay two points behind the Canucks, in third place in the division. They are 2-1 so far on a tough five-game road trip, moving on to St. Louis Thursday and Edmonton Saturday. Finish with home games against the Arizona Coyotes and Kings, and on the road against the Winnipeg Jets.

The Kings: Lost 4-1 to the Blackhawks in Chicago. Had also lost to the Wild in Minnesota on Saturday. Together, enthusiasm dampered after starting a five-game road trip with three very convincing wins in the New York area. Five points behind the Canucks, three points behind the Flames, and two points back of the Jets for the final wild-card spot. They have two games left against the Edmonton Oilers, and one against the Flames, Avalanche and San Jose Sharks. Looks like next Monday’s game against the Canucks at the Rog might just be must-see TV. (Or, even better, attend. Adam Segal offers some solid suggestions on how to invest your hard-earned cash in a Canucks game.)

The Sharks: Eight points back of the Flames, 10 back of the Canucks, with six games left on their schedule. They would pretty much have to run the table and have a number of equally shocking, unlikely things hapen.

The mathematicians: Sportsclubstats.com pins the Canucks’ chances of making the playoffs at 98.5 per cent. The Flames are at 84.6 per cent. The Kings are at 51.7 per cent. And the Sharks, the poor Sharks, are at 1.6 per cent. No one will be sorry to see the Sharks go.

My colleague Rafe Arnott suggested a musical interlude to help put the Sharks down. Not sure what this song has to do with the Sharks, other than the title:

Paul Chapman asked this question last week: who will miss the playoffs? The Kings led the way at 58 per cent, the Flames next at 19 per cent, and then the Jets at 10 per cent. How are things different now?

Right, so the Senators are in Detroit. And though they have a game in hand on the Boston Bruins, they’re also three points behind and have lost three straight. The Bruins, interestingly enough, are hosting Roberto Luongo and the Florida Panthers, who are another point back of the Senators. So you know the best-case scenario: Sens win, Panthers win.

Meanwhile, the Jets host the New York Rangers today. This is kind of a huge game for the Jets, who are trying to keep the Kings at bay for that final wild-card spot in the West. You’d think the Rangers, who are first in the Metropolitan Division, are last in the division, considering the angst surrounding their power play.

Around the NHL

Ummm, what happens if the Buffalo Sabres don’t win the NHL draft? It’s possible, right? Even if they finish 30th and last overall, which is pretty much the situation despite Monday’s 4-1 win over the Coyotes?

It will pretty much kill Sabres GM Tim Murray. This is a guy who told the New York Times that he’s obsessed with Connor McDavid. “I watch him too much and I think too much about him. I wish I could help myself.” He also said, of the Sabres’ difficult year: “Our time’s the future. This guy I call our franchise-changing player.”

I’m not sure if Murray realizes that his best-case scenario is having a 20-per-cent chance of landing the rights to No. 1 in next June’s draft. Wouldn’t you be more inclined to suggest how nice it might be to have a shot at drafting McDavid, rather than pretty much pronouncing him your own?

A number of Carolina Hurricanes players spoke about it in the wake of the retirement of Chris Borland, a 24-year-old linebacker who’d just finished his rookie season with the San Francisco 49ers. And, of course, the Pittsburgh Penguins’ star defenceman Kris Letang — a guy who suffered a stroke 14 months ago — is out after suffering at least his fourth concussion when he was hit by the Arizona Coyotes’ Shane Doan. (You can see Doan in the above photo looking very, very concerned.)

They’re certainly aware of the dangers. But it’s interesting to see what fourth-liner Brad Malone has to say:

“It’s a sacrifice I guess I’m willing to make. It’s one of those things where you know the risk but you don’t want to think about it, right? If that situation was affecting my life at home and the people around me, away from the rink and at the rink, then I think that’s when I sit down and sort of reevaluate. Until that time I think you kind of deal with the blows or the situation at hand.”

Lovely Livery!

Embarrassing photos of soccer players are not difficult to find. Like, for instance, the lovely photo above. Isn’t it charming? England goalkeepers Tim Flowers (left) and David Seaman flank Alan Shearer and Graeme Le Saux, in showing off England’s fabulous new kit — or should it be duds? — in advance of the 1996 Euros. Shearer and Le Saux, no doubt, were underwhelmed by what they had to wear. Flowers and Seaman, meanwhile, must have been doing some thoroughbred racing during their free time. Atrocious!

It isn’t the first time that Seaman has subjected himself to head-shaking photos. There’s the time he went night-fishing. The Guardian has that picture — and many other “awkward footballer photos” — in a new, compelling gallery.

Making a Racquet

I’m a big tennis fan but, honestly, I hadn’t given much thought so far this season to the Spaniard David Ferrer. Wasn’t aware that he was 19-2 on the season going into the big tournament in Miami — he’s now 21-2 and into the fourth round, where he plays France’s Gilles Simon this afternoon. Ferrer is seventh in the world, and he’s spent most of the past eight years in the top 10. Impressive, writes Rolling Stone’s Juan Jose Vallejo, considering Ferrer is 5-foot-9 in a big man’s game. And Ferrer sees a tennis future where, quite simply, he wouldn’t belong: “I think players like me, around my height, are going to be extinct.” A win today and he’ll most likely face Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals. He’s 5-13 lifetime against the Joker. Milos Raonic, meanwhile, would most likely meet Kei Nishikori, who beat him at UBC earlier this month in Davis Cup action, if he can get by American big man John Isner in tonight’s feature match.

And Finally

My main man C-Dub just got back from Palm Springs. He stayed at the Hard Rock Cafe. In the Rod Stewart Room.

I have no idea what that means. I must ask. But the first thing I thought of was that Rod Stewart classic — and the related scene from Mike Myers’ So I Married an Axe Murderer:

Here are five things we’re pondering prior to Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin dropping by Rogers Arena.
1. The Canucks need a bounce-back effort Thursday’s disappointing showing versus the Colorado Avalanche.
That’s not a new storyline this year. Weren’t we talking about this a couple of weeks ago, when Vancouver followed up a 6-2 home loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets with a 4-1 road win over the Los Angeles Kings? And various times before that?
“It’s happened to us too many times this year, where we’ve sucked when we shouldn’t have sucked,” said Canucks rearguard Lucas Sbisa. “People get mad. Then you get mad yourself. Then you’re like, ‘That’s not acceptable.’ And the next night you go out and do better.
“We know it’s just being lazy, not showing up with 100 per cent. It shouldn’t happen. We know it shouldn’t happen.”
Kevin Bieksa, Sbisa’s defence partner of late, added: “We’ve done a good job of bouncing back from games like that…not necessarily the loss, but the way we played. I imagine we’ll be ready to go tonight.”
2. Vancouver didn’t practice Friday and had a full morning skate today. It looks like the same line-up that lost 4-1 to the Avalanche, meaning Alex Burrows with Henrik and Daniel Sedin on the first line, followed by Nick Bonino between Chris Higgins and Radim Vrbata, Linden Vey centring Shawn Matthias and Derek Dorsett and Bo Horvat with Jannik Hansen and Rolands Kenins on his wings.
The defence pairings featured Alex Edler and Chris Tanev, Yannick Weber and Dan Hamhuis and Bieksa and Sbisa. Eddie Lack is expected to start in goal.
Brad Richardson (ankle) was out early for some work on his own. The centre also stayed with the group. Tonight will mark the sixth straight game he’s missed after playing two in a row. He had missed 24 in a row prior to that.
“He’s getting closer,” coach Willie Desjardins said. He refused to say whether Richardson would be going on the four-game road trip that starts Monday with a visit to St. Louis.
3. Like Colorado, the Stars come to Vancouver on the outside looking in when it comes to the playoffs. Like Colorado, they also come in one night after a disappointing road loss to the Edmonton Oilers.
Edmonton blanked the Stars 4-0 Friday, ending a four-game win streak for Dallas. The Stars have also won seven of nine.
The Stars came into the Saturday eight points behind the Winnipeg Jets for the second of the two wildcard spots in the Western Conference, with seven games remaining.
As Stars sniper Jamie Benn said, Dallas will need to win out the rest of the way to have a chance to get into the postseason.
“I think our record has shown that we can play some good hockey. We’re still a good team,” said Benn.
4. The Stars have won their past five games against the Canucks, including two this season. Benn has five goals and 12 points in his past eight contests against the Canucks. Tyler Seguin has 11 points, including four goals, in his past five games against Vancouver.
5. Defenceman Trevor Daley (lower body) was late coming off the ice from the Stars’ morning skate, but there was speculation that he might be back in the line-up. He has 16 goals and 33 points in 61 games this season.

]]>Here are five things we’re pondering as Patrick Roy and Co. make a visit tonight to the Rog (7 p.m., Sportsnet Pacific, TSN 1040).

1. Looks like Burrows and Hansen aren’t out

Wingers Alex Burrows and Jannik Hansen, who both missed practice Wednesday for what was referred to as maintenance days, were on the ice for the optional morning skate today, which suggests the Canucks (43-26-4) will go with the same line-up they had in Tuesday’s 5-2 win over the Winnipeg Jets.

You’d assume that Burrows would be back with Henrik and Daniel Sedin on Vancouver’s top line. Daniel’s on a five-game point streak (2-6-8). It’s the third time he’s recorded points in five or more straight games this season.

The twins have had success throughout their careers against the Avalanche, too. Daniel has 60 points, including 29 goals, in 71 career games versus Colorado (33-28-12), while Henrik has 63 points, including 21 goals, in 77 games.

Vancouver has won three straight and five of six.

“It goes really fast in this business. We have to keep pounding away and doing our thing,” said Canucks netminder Eddie Lack.

2. A first win for old sweaters?

Vancouver will wear uniforms honouring the Vancouver Millionaires, who won the Stanley Cup on March 26, 2015.

“It’s (the Millionaires’) obviously a really good history and it’s a fun game to be a part of,’ said Lack. It’s the third time for the Canucks to don the maroon-coloured jerseys. They’re 0-2 so far.

3. Who are these Avs?

The Canucks haven’t seen the Avalanche since November. Colorado, one of the feel-good stories of the NHL last year, has been besieged by injuries this time around and are 12th in the Western Conference going into the game. They dropped a 4-3 decision Wednesday in Edmonton, which was their third straight defeat.

They’re sitting at 422 man games lost from injuries. The players they’re currently without include top-pairing defenceman Erik Johnson (knee), who is averaging a team-high 24:25 of ice time, and top-six centre Nathan MacKinnon (foot).

Vancouver coach Willie Desjardins still talked up their team speed, explaining, “they can create offence quickly.”

Their best players of late have included defenceman Tyson Barrie, yet another rearguard product from the WHL’s Kelowna Rockets. Barrie played 28:44 against Edmonton Wednesday, which was the second-highest total of his career.

He had 47 points on the season, the most by a Colorado defenceman since 2005-06, when Rob Blake had 51 and John-Michael Liles put up 49.

4. Riddle-me twice

The Avalanche have a pair of Canuck arch nemeses: Jarome Iginla has the most points of any active player against the Canucks, with 79, including 31 goals, in 93 games; Alex Tanguay has the second most, with 60 points, including 21 goals, in 67 games.

The veteran wingers are both still putting up numbers. Tanguay, 35, comes into the Vancouver game with 21 goals on the campaign, while Iginla, 37, has 25.

5. Varlamov and Lack to start

Colorado didn’t skate this morning, but in goal they’re expected to go with Semyon Varlamov, since he played just 9:36 Wednesday in Edmonton before getting pulled. He gave up three goals on seven shots.

In his career against Vancouver, he’s 3-8-1, with a 2.86 goals against and a .902 save percentage.

Lack is expected to get the call for Vancouver. He’s 0-1-1, with a 4.96 goals against and a .868 save percentage in his career versus the Avalanche.

1. It’s another key Western Conference matchup, with two teams desperate to win to keep their playoff hopes alive.

The Jets (38-23-12) are on a 5-0 run and are tied with the Canucks (88 points) for sixth spot in the conference, though they played one more game. That puts the Jets in the final wild card spot in the West, one point behind Minnesota. But they need to keep pouring it on, as the Kings are four points back with a game in hand.

Expect the big and physical Jets to throw their weight around again.

“The Jets play a hard, physical game, they’re a good skating team, a big, strong team and that’s what they do,” said Canucks coach Willie Desjardins. “That’s how they come at you and that’s what they’re going to bring tonight.”

Added defenceman Tyler Myers, who joined the Jets before the trade deadline from Buffalo in the Evander Kane deal, said: “It’s fun being in meaningful games this time of the year and the race in general and knowing every point is extremely valuable. I’m excited to play.”

The Jets are missing key players defenceman Dustin Byfuglien and forwards Bryan Little and Mathieu Perreault. In a minor surprise, the Jets will start Michael Hutchinson in goal instead of Ondrej Pavelec, who’s won five straight. Over the stretch, including a 4-1 win in Edmonton on Monday, Pavelec has compiled, .967 save percentage, 0.98 goals against average, and a shutout over the last five games.

2. The Canucks, who’ve won six of their last eight games, will go back to Eddie Lack in goal, after Jacob Markstrom got a 3-1 in Phoenix on Sunday.

The other lineup change is expected to be Ronalds Kenins getting back in on the fourth line and Brandon McMillan coming out. Centre Brad Richardson took part in the morning skate but was not involved in line rushes and isn’t ready to go after aggravating his foot/ankle injury. Winger Zack Kassian (back) wasn’t on for the skate.

“Kass was getting pretty close,” said Desjardins. “I don’t see it as a long-term one, but he’s out a little bit. Obviously, Richie is skating, so he’s getting close.”

Five things we learned heading into the Canucks’ game with the Blue Jackets on Thursday:

1. Ryan Miller’s time frame for a return to action from a knee sprain continues to receive attention, despite the fact he’s not due back for another three weeks.

Asked whether Miller’s schedule for a return had been put back or might put his availability in question for the start of the playoffs on April 15 — per a report on TSN 1040 on Wednesday — coach Willie Desjardins had this to say: “I think Ryan is on track, from everything I’ve heard. I think he’s been on the ice and on track.

“The good thing about where we’re at is we’re happy with the way Eddie is playing so we don’t have to force anything. (Miller) is on track. Nothing has changed. He’s skated, but not with gear on.”

Miller’s agent, Mike Liut, also said he understood that the goalie’s healing progress was on track. Luit said in an email to The Province: “I don’t have any specific info on timing. Injuries heal when they heal so I don’t ask (athletes don’t want to answer the injury question). Knee ligaments are more difficult for goalies to overcome because of the movement so I expect that RM is on schedule. Of course the schedule is fluid.”

Yes, very fluid, so we’ll see how it plays out.

Brad Richardson might be down and out of the lineup again for the Canucks after missing a bunch of games with a mystery ankle/foot injury. (CP files)

2. After getting third-line centre Brad Richardson back in the lineup for two games (after missing 24 games with a mysterious ankle/foot injury that the club claims didn’t involve a broken bone), it now looks like he might be out again.

Richardson has been excellent in this two games back, but wasn’t at the full morning skate on Thursday. Desjardins said he’ll be game-time decision.

“Just kind of maintenance, game-time decision,” said the coach. “We’ll have to see if he takes the (pre-game) warm-up.”

Linden Vey, who’s been a healthy scratch the last two games, took the third-line centre spot in the morning skate and will slot in for Richardson if he can’t play.

Meanwhile, winger Zack Kassian was working on the ice early with skills coach Glenn Carnegie but didn’t take part in the morning skate. Kassian reportedly has a back issue and looks to miss his second straight game.

3. This should be another winnable game for the Canucks, who need to keep it going. They are in second spot in the Pacific Division, but the Kings are two points back and the Flames three points back. The Canucks have won four of their last five, but play the Kings in L.A. on Saturday.

However, it’s far from a slam dunk. The Blue Jackets may be 17 points out of a playoff spot and have had just about everything go wrong this season that could go wrong, but they are on a mini-roll of late, going 5–2 in their last seven, including a 4-3 shootout win over the Oilers on Wednesday in Edmonton. Sergei Bobrovsky is expected to start in goal for Columbus.

4. The Canucks assigned defenceman Frank Corrado to the Utica Comets on Thursday morning, obviously to get him some playing time in the AHL. Corrado, 21, had been a healthy scratch the last two games. The move leaves the Canucks with eight healthy D-men.

5. Eddie Lack gets his seventh straight start in goal and his 13th consecutive appearance. The Canucks’ lineup is expected to look like it did against Philly on Tuesday:

]]>http://blogs.theprovince.com/2015/03/19/canucks-game-day-miller-update-richardson-questionable-again-a-winnable-game/feed/0Detroit Red Wings v Vancouver CanucksjimjamiesonBrad Richardson might be down and out of the lineup again for the Canucks after missing a bunch of games with a mystery leg/foot injury. (CP files)Just Announced: Nicki Minaj, Kelly Clarkson, UB40, Wallflowers, Jeff Bridges and the Abiders, Twenty One Pilotshttp://blogs.theprovince.com/2015/03/18/just-announced-nicki-minaj-kelly-clarkson-wallflowers-jeff-bridges-the-abiders-twenty-one-pilots/
http://blogs.theprovince.com/2015/03/18/just-announced-nicki-minaj-kelly-clarkson-wallflowers-jeff-bridges-the-abiders-twenty-one-pilots/#commentsWed, 18 Mar 2015 17:01:35 +0000http://blogs.theprovince.com/?p=183344JUST ANNOUNCED

Pharis & Jason Romero
The Rogue presents these musicians and banjo makers, on tour in support of their latest release, A Wanderer I’ll Stay. With guest Marin Patenaude. • St. James Hall, 3214 W. 10th Ave. • April …

The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
Rock ‘n’ roll band from New York City, on tour to support their ​new release, Freedom Tower. With guests We Are Hex. • The Imperial, 319 Main St. • May 13, 9 p.m. • $25, ticketweb.ca, Red Cat, Zulu, Highlife, timbreconcerts.com

1. The Canucks are as healthy as they’ve been in some time, with forwards Chris Higgins and Brad Richardson and defencemen Yannick Weber and Kevin Bieksa all slated to return to the lineup from injury.

Winger Alex Burrows remains questionable for tonight.

Richardson’s return means Linden Vey likely heads to the press box. Going off Friday’s practice, Richardson will be at centre with Higgins and Derek Dorsett on his wings.

What does Richardson being back in the lineup mean to Bo Horvat?

Richardson hurt his foot in a Jan. 16 game against Carolina. His last full game was the night before against Philadelphia and he played 16 minutes, 50 seconds that night. Horvat played 12:55.

In the last 12 games, Horvat’s played more than that each game, highlighted by a 17:36 effort in New Jersey.

2. How good will Bieksa be? He hasn’t played since breaking his hand in a Jan. 20 game. He has been a large part of this team’s personality for some time.

The return of Bieksa helps push Luca Sbisa back to his natural left side. Bieksa and Sbisa were paired together at practice, while Weber had Sbisa’s most recent spot alongside Dan Hamhuis. The No. 1 pairing of Alex Edler and Chris Tanev remained together.

3. Eddie Lack is slated to start in goal for Vancouver. His only appearance against the Maple Leafs in his career was 34 minutes of mop-up duty, when he stopped all 13 shots he faced in relief of Ryan Miller in a 5-2 Vancouver loss on Dec. 6 in Toronto.

Jonathan Bernier made 44 saves for Toronto that night. He backed up Friday, when Toronto was losing 6-3 in Calgary with James Reimer in goal.

In his career, Bernier is 3-0-0 against Vancouver, with a tidy 2.00 goals against and a .945 save percentage.

]]>http://blogs.theprovince.com/2015/03/14/canucks-game-day-bieksa-weber-richardson-and-higgins-expected-back-to-face-maple-leafs/feed/1on January 15, 2015 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.steveewenCanucks Game Day: Chris Tanev returns to line-up as Vancouver looks to end Ducks streak against themhttp://blogs.theprovince.com/2015/03/09/canucks-game-day-chris-tanev-returns-to-line-up-as-vancouver-looks-to-end-ducks-streak-against-them/
http://blogs.theprovince.com/2015/03/09/canucks-game-day-chris-tanev-returns-to-line-up-as-vancouver-looks-to-end-ducks-streak-against-them/#commentsMon, 09 Mar 2015 19:27:53 +0000http://blogs.theprovince.com/?p=182314Here are five things we’re contemplating as Ryan Kesler and the Pacific Division-leading Anaheim Ducks make a stop in Vancouver to play the Canucks (7 p.m., Sportsnet Pacific, TSN 1040)…

1.Chris Tanev (concussion) is back in the Canucks’ lineup, marking …

]]>Here are five things we’re contemplating as Ryan Kesler and the Pacific Division-leading Anaheim Ducks make a stop in Vancouver to play the Canucks (7 p.m., Sportsnet Pacific, TSN 1040)…

1.Chris Tanev (concussion) is back in the Canucks’ lineup, marking his first game since Valentine’s Day. There have been assorted helter-skelter moments in the Vancouver zone during the 10 games he’s been out.

He’s expected to reunite with Alex Edler to make up Vancouver’s top defensive tandem. Tanev’s averaging 21 minutes, five seconds of ice time in 53 games this season.

“You obviously want to be in the lineup and playing, but the guys have been doing a great job,” Tanev said. “It will be fun to get back in there tonight.”

“I’m just going to go out there and work hard and try to keep things simple. They’re a good team over there so it will be a tough game to jump back in.”

2.Centre Nick Bonino, the former Duck, was one of a handful of players who took part in Vancouver’s optional morning skate. He missed practice Sunday with an undisclosed ailment. Coach Willie Desjardins said the plan was to “evaluate” Bonino this afternoon. After the skate, Bonino sounded like he expected to play.

Brandon McMillan, a winger by trade, skated at centre between Shawn Matthias and Radim Vrbata on Sunday, so you’d expect Bonino to slot in there.

Ronalds Kenins, who was a healthy scratch for Saturday’s San Jose game, was back on the fourth line teaming with Jannik Hansen to flank Bo Horvat, but he stayed out late for the morning skate, which usually suggests a player isn’t dressing for the game. McMillan came off with the majority of the group, so bet on him playing with Hansen and Horvat.

Sunday’s other two lines featured Zack Kassian with Henrik and Daniel Sedin and Linden Vey between Alex Burrows and Derek Dorsett.
Defenceman Yannick Weber (undisclosed), who left the San Jose game early, didn’t skate and Desjardins said he won’t play.

“I don’t think it will be long-term,” Desjardins said. Frank Corrado was paired with Ryan Stanton and Dan Hamhuis was with Luca Sbisa on Sunday. Adam Clendening was the odd man out, teamed with injured centre Brad Richardson (foot). Clendening also stayed out late this morning.

3.Kevin Bieksa (hand) was out prior to the skate on his own and then stayed with the group. It’s his first session with the team. The veteran defenceman hasn’t played since Jan. 20.

“Well, my shot is about as hard as yours right now,” Bieksa said to TSN’s Farhan Lalji, “and I think we all agree that’s not good enough for the NHL, so we’ll take a few more days here.”

4.Eddie Lack is expected to start in goal for Vancouver. He’s coming off stellar efforts the past two games against San Jose and Arizona. For his career, he’s 3-4-1, with a 2.54 goals against average and a .920 save percentage, versus the Ducks.

Both of Anaheim’s goalies have had great success versus Vancouver. Frederik Andersen is 6-0-1, with a 1.11 goals against and a .959 save percentage. John Gibson’s only game against the Canucks was his NHL debut and he wound up with an 18-save shutout in a 3-0 win last April.

5.Anaheim coming to town means the return of Ryan Kesler. He has 17 goals, 41 points and a minus-2 rating in 67 games this season. He’s managed two assists in four games with Vancouver so far.

The Ducks have dominated the Canucks of late. Anaheim has points in eight straight visits to Rogers Arena (6-0-2) and have gone 11 straight overall against Vancouver without a regulation loss (9-0-2).

The Ducks have the second-most wins and points through 67 games in franchise history, trailing only the 2013-14 team (44-16-7, 95). They have the most wins (20-8-4) and points on the road (44) through 32 starts in franchise history.

A big reason for their success of late? Their penalty kill. They’ve killed off 21 of 24 penalties since Feb. 21. That’s an 87.5-per-cent success rate. They’re 11th overall on the penalty kill this season, at 81.9 per cent.

Take Our Poll]]>http://blogs.theprovince.com/2015/03/09/canucks-game-day-chris-tanev-returns-to-line-up-as-vancouver-looks-to-end-ducks-streak-against-them/feed/0Anaheim Ducks v Vancouver CanuckssteveewentanevcatchespuckANAHEIM, CA - DECEMBER 28: Nick Bonino #13 of the Vancouver Canucks controls the puck ahead of Ryan Kesler #17 of the Anaheim Ducks at Honda Center on December 28, 2014 in Anaheim, California. (Photo by Stephen Dunn/Getty Images)The New Westminster Hyacks and head coach Farhan Lalji shoot for a fourth straight win Friday when they play at Tweedsmuir. (PNG photo)Ryan Kesler will be back jostling for position with Alex Edler and the like in front of Eddie Lack tonight. (Photo by Jeff Vinnick/NHLI via Getty Images)Canucks Hat Trick: Lack struts stuff against Coyotes, but does Markstrom need a start soon?http://blogs.theprovince.com/2015/03/06/canucks-hat-trick-lack-struts-stuff-against-coyotes-but-does-markstrom-need-a-start-soon/
http://blogs.theprovince.com/2015/03/06/canucks-hat-trick-lack-struts-stuff-against-coyotes-but-does-markstrom-need-a-start-soon/#commentsFri, 06 Mar 2015 16:01:16 +0000http://blogs.theprovince.com/?p=181964Here are three things we’re thinking after the Canucks stumbled to a 3-2 shootout loss to the Coyotes Thursday.

1. After giving up five goals to both the Sabres and the Blues in his last two starts, an Eddie Lack …

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Eddie Lack makes a glove save on a Tobias Rieder chance during the third period Thursday. (Photo by Norm Hall/NHLI via Getty Images)

Here are three things we’re thinking after the Canucks stumbled to a 3-2 shootout loss to the Coyotes Thursday.

1. After giving up five goals to both the Sabres and the Blues in his last two starts, an Eddie Lack bounce-back was crucial. You can fault him on not blocking the pass out from behind the net on the Coyotes’ first goal, but he was superb other than that. Seven stops in overtime? The vast majority of those point-blank chances? He was the reason Vancouver picked up a point.

Which begs the question: when do you go back to Jacob Markstrom in the Vancouver net? How long do you want him to sit idle after the eight-minute, three-goal, four-shot outing against San Jose? The longer he waits, the more he stews, the worse it is.

And he’s not some stop-gap guy holding the fort as Lack’s backup until Ryan Miller is ready again. Markstrom is touted as a chunk of this team’s future.

The Canucks visit San Jose Saturday and then are home to Anaheim Monday. Massive divisional showdowns. Then comes another Pacific rival, Los Angeles, next Thursday at Rogers Arena. Then it’s Toronto at home next Saturday. A national TV showcase?

And Lack seems to have found his game again.

After that, it’s Philadelphia in Vancouver on March 17. That will be two weeks from Markstrom’s last start. That’s a long, long time for him to wait.

Chris Higgins (background) scores a goal against Mike Smith of the Arizona Coyotes Thursday, just his second of the calendar year. (Ross D. Franklin, AP)

3. Chris Higgins’s goal was his first in 17 games and his second since the calendar turned to 2015. He does have points in three straight games. Maybe he’s starting to right the ship.

He’s at eight goals in 63 games, after getting 17 last year, 10 in 41 games in 2012-13 and 18 the campaign before that.

He’s one of several guys who needs to figure it out down the stretch.

]]>http://blogs.theprovince.com/2015/03/06/canucks-hat-trick-lack-struts-stuff-against-coyotes-but-does-markstrom-need-a-start-soon/feed/0Vancouver Canucks v Arizona CoyotessteveewenEddie Lack makes a glove save on a Tobias Rieder chance during the third period Thursday. (Photo by Norm Hall/NHLI via Getty Images)Chris Higgins (background) scores a goal against Mike Smith of the Arizona Coyotes Thursday, just his second of the calendar year. (Ross D. Franklin, AP)Canucks Hat Trick: Miller makes slow progress, power play must score, who plays with Edler?http://blogs.theprovince.com/2015/03/05/canucks-hat-trick-miller-makes-slow-progress-power-play-must-score-who-plays-with-edler/
http://blogs.theprovince.com/2015/03/05/canucks-hat-trick-miller-makes-slow-progress-power-play-must-score-who-plays-with-edler/#commentsThu, 05 Mar 2015 19:35:35 +0000http://blogs.theprovince.com/?p=181790Tonight, the Vancouver Canucks are in suburban Phoenix (6 p.m. PT, Sportsnet Pacific, TSN 1040), playing a team that has lost 10 straight games in regulation — a dysfunctional bunch of players referred to as the Arizona Coyotes. They are …]]>Tonight, the Vancouver Canucks are in suburban Phoenix (6 p.m. PT, Sportsnet Pacific, TSN 1040), playing a team that has lost 10 straight games in regulation — a dysfunctional bunch of players referred to as the Arizona Coyotes. They are awful.

To list the negative stats would be cruel, unusual punishment, but think for a moment about the few loyal fans that city has left. They have watched the home team score just 12 goals in their last nine home games, all losses. Who could possibly endure this? How could anyone renew their tickets after watching this, particularly after the roster was recently evacuated of two players you could at least hope would perform, in Antoine Vermette and Keith Yandle.

The Canucks shouldn’t be counting the points yet, as the Yotes will play relaxed and will attack, not worrying about the outcome as much as showing management what they can do. And when you don’t have a great back end, that could, repeat, could be a dangerous team to play, particularly after watching the Canucks play in New Jersey and Buffalo on the last trip. With that in mind, we begin discussion of three issues surrounding the Canucks …

1. There’s no reason to change the return timetable of Ryan Miller in any way, but it was nice to see him late Tuesday, after the San Jose Sharks game, walking around downstairs at Rogers Arena. The players are not allowed to talk to the media when they’re hurt, but Miller did exchange pleasantries and said his injury felt considerably better than it had even the previous game, and just watching him walk was a real improvement from the Sunday night affair, post-St. Louis Blues, when he really appeared to struggle just getting around on the concourse.

The ups and downs of his two replacements, Eddie Lack and Jacob Markstrom, have certainly brought his recovery into focus, but there’s no point in rushing anything as Miller is always best when he is completely and totally ready to play. Pushing anything at that position is almost guaranteed to backfire, either in further injury or a plethora of goals against, or both. And there’s little doubt the entire organization is aware of that.

2. After watching the Canucks throw the puck around on the power play against the Sharks, it was easy to agree with Daniel Sedin when he said it “felt good but you have to score.”

Yes, you have to score, and in this game, one wasn’t enough. The problem here is that when this team goes on the road it doesn’t even feel good. In fact, it must feel like a chore to go out when the other team takes a penalty lately, because the performance has been an indictment of the players involved.

The strange part of it is that they are still a very successful team away from Rogers Arena, with their 19-12-2 road record, the saving grace being the fact they haven’t been involved in games where there is a lot of special teams time. The Canucks have scored just five power play goals in their last 19 road games, in just 42 opportunities, which has kept their league standing in the percentage category from falling to the laughable; they’re still the 18th best in the NHL. But the goal is to score, and five goals in 19 games is beyond dismal — plus the lack of penalties drawn something of an illustration of how this team plays.

Another saving grace: The Canucks are tied for second in the NHL in fewest shorthanded goals surrendered — just two over the season — so at least they’re not turning on the red light at the wrong end. The PK, you ask? Much better: just two power-play goals against in their last 10 games, killing 25 of 27 penalties.

3. So it’s looking like Alex Edler will make it back into the lineup before Chris Tanev, which raises an interesting question: With whom will coach Willie Desjardins pair Edler, and will he be able to continue the same high level of play he’s shown this year playing with Tanev? With luck we’ll never find out.

Hopefully Tanev will be back shortly after Edler appears, leaving us to wonder whether any drop-off the big Swede may suffer is due to rust more than anything else. But if Tanev continues to suffer what appear to be setbacks in his concussion recovery, Edler will have to play with somebody else, likely Adam Clendening or Yannick Weber coming out, and Luca Sbisa switching back to the right side with another partner.

No matter what happens, it will almost certainly an improvement over what we’ve seen the last four games.

]]>http://blogs.theprovince.com/2015/03/05/canucks-hat-trick-miller-makes-slow-progress-power-play-must-score-who-plays-with-edler/feed/0ryanmillerinjured022215tggmanlindenveymisses030315edlerabdelkaderIt’s official: Street outside Rogers Arena to be renamed ‘Pat Quinn Way’http://blogs.theprovince.com/2015/03/04/street-outside-rogers-arena-to-be-officially-renamed-pat-quinn-way/
http://blogs.theprovince.com/2015/03/04/street-outside-rogers-arena-to-be-officially-renamed-pat-quinn-way/#commentsWed, 04 Mar 2015 20:15:27 +0000http://blogs.theprovince.com/?p=181669The idea to rename the 700-block of Abbott Street — right outside Rogers Arena — to Pat Quinn Way was first broached after the big Irishman’s death in November.

]]>Three early thoughts following on from Trade Deadline Day and tonight’s Canucks vs. Sharks game at Rogers Arena (7 p.m., Sportsnet Pacific, TSN 1040).

1. How quickly will Alex Edler re-adjust to game action?

Alex Biega being left in Utica tells us the Canucks best defenceman this season is nearing a return to the lineup. It looked like a guarantee he’d play against the Sharks tonight, but the Canucks also brought Frank Corrado back to Vancouver. That’s a slightly odd move, given Corrado was assigned to Utica on Sunday, with the assumption being he’d get some game action. He’s not played since Feb. 1. But here he is, so maybe Edler’s not ready to go? They both took the Morning Skate – I’m sure Steve Ewen will have more in his Game Day post.

What is a fair question, nonetheless, is how quickly will Edler get back up to speed? He’s been out since a 3-2 loss to the Flames on Feb. 14. You assume it’s a back problem – he’s battled a bad back in the past. Any hockey player can tell you how much your skating is thrown off when you’re fighing a stiff back. There’s plenty of heavy work to be done in the final stretch of the season; he’ll be leaned on heavily. He won’t play if he’s not ready to go, but his timing and pace will still be off for a game or two.

2. How bad are things for the Sharks (and the Flames)?

They’re five points adrift of the Canucks, sitting on the outside looking in. But they’re also even on points (70) with Calgary, who are sitting third in the Pacific, but in the playoffs. (Calgary has 30 regulation wins; San Jose’s on 29.)

The real problem lies further south on the I-5 in LA. The once-surging Kings are also even with the Flames but only because they’ve lost three straight. Nonetheless, at 54.8, the Kings lead the league in Corsi-for percentage. They’re dominating their games, you’d pick them in a showdown with the Sharks. And, like the Canucks, the Kings have two games in hand on both Calgary and San Jose. All three teams are 3 points back of Minnesota for the second wild card spot.

The Flames are also looking in trouble. They’ve had great goaltending all year but the loss of Mark Giordano is going to hit hard. Yes, they’ve got some fun forwards, their goaltending has been solid, but their Corsi-for is a dreadful 44.8. That’s Leafs-like, and we know how well that’s worked out.

So to recap: that’s four teams chasing two playoff spots. Good luck.

3. New Comet Conacher a medical miracle

Last, a quick thought about Cory Conacher, the other minor-league pickup for the Canucks on Monday. Conacher was mentioned by many as a Calder Trophy candidate in 2012-13. He was second in rookie scoring (24 pts in 35 games) when he was traded at the deadline by Tampa Bay. Much of that was down to a lights-out 17.0 shooting percentage for the Bolts. Since then he’s struggled to get top-six icetime and as little guy doesn’t play the game usually deemed necessary to be a bottom-six type. He played 15 games for the Islander before being sent down to the AHL. He’s as good as they come in the AHL scorer model – and he’ll be a big help for the Comets, who’ve been limping along over the past month or so.

This is the third time Conacher’s been moved at the deadline. He was also traded last year from Ottawa to Buffalo.

“I consider it more of a challenge than a disease,” he told Buffalo TV station WIVB.

From here on, you figure he’d rather just talk about his play – and about how his play has kept him in the NHL. With the Canucks going to be needing scoring sooner rather than later, maybe this is the place where that happens.

]]>http://blogs.theprovince.com/2015/03/03/canucks-hat-trick-damaged-d-men-the-pacific-playoff-push-and-a-medical-miracle/feed/2Vancouver Canucks v Tampa Bay LightningpericosalexedlerSan Jose Sharks' Tommy Wingels (57) looks for the puck which was deflected off Ottawa Senators goalie Andrew Hammond, right, during the first period of an NHL hockey game Saturday, Feb. 28, 2015, in San Jose, Calif. Sharks' Wingels scored on the play. At left is Ottawa's Cody Ceci. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)coryconacher